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12th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time are a call to trust in God. In the first reading Jeremiah refuses to be intimidated by terror from every side. That doesn’t mean that the terror doesn’t get to him it means that he has no intention of allowing the terror to dictate who he is or what he does. Jeremiah has been abandoned by all his friends who now try to discredit him. He is thrown into prison for his preaching, and the army council threatens him with death if he doesn’t change his tune. But Jeremiah refuses to be bullied into agreement because he believes that “the Lord is at his side, a mighty hero”. What keeps Jeremiah sane amidst all this persecution is the profound belief that God cares for him. And, less spiritually, the frank hope that God will clobber all his enemies in good time! The message of the Gospel is quite simple Jesus tells us not to be afraid. Jesus encourages His disciples to fearlessly proclaim His teachings, assuring them that whatever is hidden will be revealed and their actions will be brought to light.

 He does not disguise the truth that his disciples will be confronted by those who threaten, bully and intimidate others into submissive agreement. He emphasizes that the apostles should not fear those who can harm the body, but rather fear God who holds ultimate authority over both body and soul, and promises that those who acknowledge Him before others will be acknowledged by Him in return Not only does Jesus want his disciples to refuse to submit to the merchants of death, he tells them not to be afraid of them: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.” What our Lord said to His Apostles applies to all Christians including you and me in the practice of our faith where we are today. By the very fact of fully living our faith day and daily we are apostles. So today we think of all of those who have given us an example by living their lives in faith. These may be parents family members or people we have known we all have people who have shown us the way of faith. So as faith filled people Jesus teaches us that our only source of freedom and strength is the goodness of our heavenly Father a goodness that is comes to us through Jesus himself as well as through people we know.

Our world is full of hype and glitter, but Jesus tells us here and now the same thing he told His apostles: “Do not be afraid. “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Jesus wants to us understand that with God there is no such thing as a nameless, faceless individual as we are all part of gods family and our names are carved in the palm of gods hand. Like Jesus, Jeremiah and the disciples, knew all about persecution and rejection. If we allow fear to silence us how will the Good News of Jesus Christ ever be heard in the world? If we don’t speak, who will? If we don’t act, who will? As St Francis of Assisi said, ‘Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary use words’. This means that by the way we lead our lives and the things we say and do for others the people around us will see we are the Christians we are called by Christ to be.

11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

The Scripture readings for this Sunday are all about the great compassion Jesus has for the crowd who were his followers. In the first reading the Israelites are reminded that God led them out of Egypt. The psalm tells us that God cares for us. In the second reading, Paul tells us that God proves His love for us because Christ died for us. In the gospel, we hear how Jesus cared for the people and sent his disciples to do the same. Jesus wanted to bring the Kingdom of his Father to them, so he set out to heal them, and sent the apostles out to do the same. His aim was to bring them the peace of God, to help them by healing their worries, their sickness, their embarrassment at being lost sheep without a shepherd as God was always the shepherd in Israel. When he called the twelve apostles he was making a New Israel, a new set of twelve tribes, as a permanent healing body, to make sure that the Kingdom of the Father and its peace and generosity would always be available to everyone everywhere.  

He was not setting up a group  of leaders, instead he was appointing his own helpers in spreading God’s Kingdom.  Do we make it our business to spread the Kingdom of God? Are we labourers in the vineyard, trying to bring God’s peace and healing to all the people of God? All of us are  made in the image of God, and he gave us the task of following on his creative work. And then we are all called to follow Jesus, we are all called to make his message known to all people, those around us as well as the people at large. Like the chosen people of Israel we are counted a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation. We are called to  minister to the people in our own time, taking responsibility for our own mission. This is a matter for all of us. As Blessed John Henry Newman wrote: He called us first in baptism; but afterwards also; whether we obey his voice or not, he graciously calls us still… Abraham was called from his home, Peter from his nets, Matthew from his office, Elisha from his farm, Nathanael from his retreat. The call that Christ makes to us  takes us onwards, It is a call to be the church of the future just as the Apostles were called to be the Church of the future at its beginning.

Jesus  mission is to the lost sheep. It is his desire and endeavour to bring together, those he pities, those he looks on with love. So today Through the words of the Gospel may we hear again our own call to be emissaries of God’s love and bearers of Good News. May we allow the kindness and compassion of God to touch our own lives and the lives of  those around us wherever we are.

Trinity Sunday

From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday we journeyed through the 40 days of Lent. From Easter Sunday until Pentecost we enjoyed the 50 days of the Easter Season and we  now come to the part of the Churches Year that is called Ordinary Time. This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday which is all about the triune god Father, son and Holy Spirit. We remember that the Father is equal to the Son and the Son is equal to the Spirit three in one and one in three we hear this in the breastplate of St. Patrick. The 4th century St Patrick, with a brilliance that we Irish are justly celebrate found in the three leaf shamrock rising from the one stem an image of the Trinity. The feast of the Trinity goes back to 12th century England and St Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. Historians say the great Thomas celebrated a Liturgy in honor of the Trinity in his cathedral. So the observance was born. In the 14th century, the feast came to be observed by the universal Church. 

We open each Liturgy especially the Mass by invoking the Trinity. We also close Mass and other liturgies by calling upon those same 3 people Father Son and Spirit  to bless us  as we go out into the world.  Throughout the Christian world many people young and not so young will be received into their faith communities  through Baptism in the name of the Trinity. The Christian belief that God is a trinity helps underscore how rich the mystery of God is and how our experience of God is always richer than our concepts and language about God. In intellectual terms, God remains a mystery. For people of faith, God is known not by the mind, but by the heart. That is what spirituality and mysticism are about – exploring our experience of God.  In the first reading God is proclaimed as a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger and rich in mercy; a God who walks with his people.  St. Paul’s words in the second reading are born out of his belief that, having been made in the image and likeness of God, Christians must always act in the image and likeness of God.  

When the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, it is an attempt to summarize the whole mystery of our God into one day.  This is not just a “theological feast” but a feast which should speak to us of this simple fact of faith: the Father loves us, has revealed that love in his Son, and has called us into a relationship sustained by the Spirit. It is our joy that, as baptized members of the Church, we can share in that divine life and love as children of God.  God has chosen us, and we are his own people, just as he chose the people of Israel long ago. Each Trinity Sunday, we only scratch the surface of this great mystery of our faith.  In gratitude and faith, let us begin and end every prayer with greater faith and reverence as we invoke the Blessed Trinity when  we say “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Pentecost Sunday

This Sunday We celebrate the great feast of Pentecost and it takes place 50 days after Easter Sunday, marking the end of Eastertide. We hear in the account from the Acts of the Apostles how Jews from all over were gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish feast. It is recorded that 120 people, including Mary and the Apostles were in the upper room where they had seen Christ after his resurrection. They had been told by Jesus  just before he ascended, to wait there to receive ‘what the father has promised, power from on high’ His holy spirit. On Pentecost Sunday the sound of a mighty wind filled the room, witnesses saw what looked like tongues of fire resting on each person’s head and despite being from different parts of the world they could all communicate and understand to each other Pentecost is the birthday of the church

With the feast of Pentecost the seven weeks of Easter have come to an end, Christ’s Passover is fulfilled with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifested, given, and communicated as a divine person: of his fullness, Christ, the Lord, pours out the Spirit in abundance.  In the Gospel reading, Jesus, gives the apostles the power to forgive and reconcile those who sin. By the time John wrote his gospel, Jewish Christians had been excommunicated for their belief in Jesus. Ostracized and socially persecuted, some Christians reacted in fear, while others boldly proclaimed the gospel. The First Christians needed a sense of stability, a sense of serenity and peace. Through the words of Jesus, “Peace” was John’s prayer for his readers as it is for us as we listen to this gospel reading. With the sight of Jesus, fear turned into great joy. Anxiety turned into relief. Desperation turned into vindication. Most important, a lack of spiritual direction turned into a sense of deep spiritual grounding.

The divine presence stood close to them and with the divine presence came peace.  We too have the divine presence with us  in the Blessed Sacrament and it brings Joy and spiritual grounding to all those who come and Jesus says to each and every one you are welcome. We can’t ignore the problems that are there for ourselves and those around us. Most of the time, the problems just don’t go away by themselves very often we need to stop and pray through the problems as well as thinking them through.  Gathered at the Eucharist we bring our prayers to God. We each have our own needs. Family and friends may be sick.  Kids need work. The person who has been in our lives for so long has died.  We bring these and all our concerns in prayer to church because they remind us of our need and they raise our hopes in the power of God made real to every generation through the Holy Spirit.  

Through the Holy Spirit our relationship with God produces fruitfulness, satisfies our longings, and brings us serenity and peace. Because of God’s faithfulness, we give thanks, offer sacrifice, and once again present our needs as we remember the presence of God with us in all our lives.  As we encounter people who are different from us, whether in language, culture, or background, the Holy Spirit will give us the words and the wisdom to share the Good News with them. In today’s world, we are called to be ambassadors of Christ’s love, reaching out to all people with compassion and understanding. We must be willing to listen to their stories, to learn from their experiences, and to share the Gospel in a way that speaks to their hearts. So on this feast of Pentecost, let us renew our commitment to the Holy Spirit and ask for the grace to be open to the Spirit’s guidance in our lives.

Ascension

Over our lives we have seen or we will see the departure of so many people, Perhaps it is a son or daughter leaving for university or maybe it was someone leaving to go to another country on the other side of the world or the hardest departure of all someone close to us dying. Our lives are made up of so many different times and places of leave-taking and that is what Ascension is really about Jesus leaving the Apostles to return to the Father. The Apostles must have felt awful as  Jesus  told them and us go therefore make disciples of all the nations and know that I am with you yes to the end of time. This Gospel reading is all about the past the present and the future. It is about ourselves in the here and now of today, and what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations in 2023 or at least making disciples of those around us perhaps our families and friends.

In this gospel reading Jesus has little to say, but he is definite about what he has to say when he speaks. This is in sharp contrast to the fact that, even at this last minute, some of his disciples still doubted. The disciples did what he told them to do. He asked them to meet him on the mountain, and they did that. Like any gathering of people, their feelings were varied. Some of them worshipped him, while some of them still doubted. Jesus didn’t seem to have any great problem with that, because he knew that, when the Spirit came, all of those doubts would be ended. It would seem, indeed, that he was in a hurry to take his leave of them, so that the second part of his plan of salvation could get underway. The mission of the apostles was simple to understand; difficult to carry out. It was to teach others all that Jesus had taught them. Just as he asked his disciples to follow him, they were to ask that others should follow him which was so hard then and especially hard in the world of today.

The programme of redemption and salvation was to begin at Pentecost and continue from generation to generation, until the end of time.So many things have changed in the Church and society over the years especially in more recent times. However two things that have not changed are Jesus himself and his message as they are always new for each generation. The message of Jesus is ignored by many people inside and outside the Church for their own reasons. The essential message of God and Jesus his Son have never changed up to now and I don’t think that the message  will ever change. Again and again we need to ask ourselves what we are doing to make disciples of all the nations realizing that Jesus and his message are always new for each generation. May we be heralds of the message of Jesus this Ascension as we go forward with faith.

6th Sunday of Easter

This Sunday is the 6^th Sunday of Easter it doesn’t seem that  long since we celebrated Easter Sunday as we  head towards Ascension and Pentecost which take place over the next 2 weekends. The second reading is one that I always love to hear as It speaks of us having reverence for God and that we should always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks about the reason for our hope, the reading goes on to tell us to give our answers with gentleness and reverence. What is the answer for our hope simply put the reason for our hope is Jesus Christ the Son of God the Father. If we live for Christ, we will be criticized and many people over the centuries lost their lives for their defence of the faith. Would we be able to stand up and tell those around us the reason that we have for the hope that is within us today? Would we be prepared to stand up for the faith that so many have turned their backs on and point towards Jesus Christ the reason for the hope that we have both these questions are hard  to answer for people of faith in the world we find ourselves these days.   

In The Gospel for this Sunday Jesus promises to ask the Father to send us the “Paraclete,” or “Advocate.” The word “Paraclete” literally means “one called alongside” indicating one who accompanies another.  This can refer to a Lawyer who intercedes for another in a lawsuit, a helper who encourages, or a companion who gives comfort. The Paraclete, or advocate, is the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit. Jesus is preparing his disciples for his Ascension, his going back to the Father. When he finally leaves He doesn’t leave his followers a detailed plan.  Instead, he promised them and he also promises us the Holy Spirit, who will never leave our side. This is why he says “I will not leave you orphans.”  The Spirit is with us to open our hearts and minds to the fullness of the truth of Jesus’ words, and the commandment he gives to “love one another as I have loved you.”  If we share our faith with courtesy and respect for others who might not hold our belief  or those who no longer practise their faith. then we will find that they will show respect for the things we hold dear as we stand up for the faith we profess wherever we are.

The one thing that will remain as it has up to now is the reason for our hope who is Jesus Christ who is with us in all our troubles in life whatever they are. As we look around us we may come across people who may be considered to be outsiders who are the least likely to join us in prayer.  But here they are and they are part of us! We cannot ignore them, especially if they, like the Samaritans, show signs of the Spirit’s life that is the life of faith in what they are saying or doing. We welcome and respect one another whether we are in Church every week or not; No one is  less in God’s eyes, nor should anyone  be in ours. Peter calls us today to “good conduct in Christ.” What better conduct can we do as a Christians, than be a community of Christ’s disciples as we move forward together in faith. God the Father is merciful and full of compassion. He is our source of life and of the longings of our hearts and our hearts are restless till they rest in him It is through the Holy Spirit that we are drawn into the life of Faith so we can rest in him. May we always be open to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and may we be bold witnesses to Christ in the world where we are.

5th Sunday of Easter

In this Sundays  first reading, we see how human the first Christians were. Some were Palestinian Jews, while others were gentiles of Greek origin. Tensions were bound to arise since each group had different ways of thinking and acting. Once out in the open, the complaints become an opportunity for development, and the decision is made to give the non-Jewish community greater authority and more participation in the running of the Church at its beginning. The second reading, from the First Letter of St. Peter, uses the image of “stone” or “rock.” Peter, referring to Isaiah’s prophecy, tells us that God the Father long ago had established His Son, Jesus, as the “cornerstone, chosen and precious.” Peter, with warm and welcoming tone, urges us to come with hope and trust to the living stone of salvation, and there to become ourselves a holy temple. Then comes a warning. Just as many have rejected this rock of salvation, so too, if we attempt to bypass Christ, then we will ourselves stumble and fall.

Peter quotes Isaiah as his authority for referring to Christ as a stumbling block to those who reject Him. The Gospel is taken from the wonderful farewell address of Jesus to His apostles at the Last Supper. He is helping them get ready for his suffering and death. For the apostles this was a huge reversal from the adulation of the entrance into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday to the despair of the Cross on Good Friday. Remember when he asked them whether they would leave him, along with the rest of the crowd? Now it is he who is leaving. They are stunned. Peter’s reply at that time would be appropriate even now. “Where will we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6:67-8) Jesus tells them as he tells us now. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me.” The straightforward meaning of this directive is, you know how to trust, you do it with God. Use that same trust with me.  This trust in Jesus and in God  is also what we are called to these days. Jesus speaks to us not at us.   His word is proclaimed to us through the readings from scripture as well as in lived example of others in the community where we live.  

We come to Church week in week out to hear the Word and receive Jesus in Holy Communion.  We come to share the joys and sufferings of all the community in faith gathered together as gods people.   We don’t stay in Church all the time as the hard pew might well become the soft bed.  We have duties and obligations to family, work and the communities where we live.  We are asked to  take the Word of God into that life with all its short comings when we are told to go in peace.   When we’re confused about decisions we should make, Jesus Himself will show us the Way. When we don’t know what is true and what is false, what is right and what is wrong, the Holy Spirit through the Church and its members will enlighten us.  When we are drawn into false pleasures that promise us life, Jesus will bring us back to real living and the joy of that life through the power of His love. As we walk along the roads of life these days when so much is wrong in the world at large let us take up the call of Jesus the cornerstone  of the church to trust in him and he will not let us down.

4th Sunday of Easter Good Shepherd Sunday

The Fourth Sunday of Easter is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because no matter what reading cycle we are in, the Gospel always focusses on the image of Jesus as the Good Shepherd. The image of a caring shepherd, which was formed within an ancient agricultural society, remains valid even today. It speaks of the intimate closeness and tenderness of Christ’s relationship with each one of us individually.  The shepherd knows his sheep, and the sheep their shepherd. Complete trust is implicit. The first reading gives us insight into how the early church was struggling with the opening up of the good news to the Gentiles, leading to diversity in the make-up of the communities, much as we have in parishes today.  Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were preaching, was home to a military garrison, so conversion of the soldiers promoted the spread of the good news as they were stationed throughout the Roman Empire.

The Gospel today makes some sweeping claims eternal life promised for his sheep, and total protection from anyone who would seek to snatch them away.  It finishes up with the declaration that Jesus and God are one. The Latin root word for shepherd is pastor, and it is from this root that spring the church terminologies and concepts of pastoral care and roles within faith communities.  These roles imply a duty of love and care.  Besides that the Shepherd-King was an ancient image of God used by the Hebrew people. This year, the Gospel reading talks about Jesus as the ‘gate of the sheepfold’, that is, Jesus is the one through whom we truly enter into the fold of God. The reading implies that those who get into the sheepfold some other way bring only disaster and destruction. Those who enter the fold through Christ, the Good Shepherd, will be safe, will be led to good pasture. The parable of the Good Shepherd has many consoling truths and promises for people of every century, including ourselves in the twenty first. That mixture of tenderness and toughness, care and self-sacrifice, is one that summarises Jesus own practice of leadership.

It is not a leadership of detachment and defensiveness; rather, it is a leadership of physical involvement and self-sacrificial love. In the good shepherd’s foolish extravagant love, his own life matters less than that of his sheep as we know Jesus gave up his life for us on the cross on Good Friday. When we think of Jesus as our Shepherd, we also need to think about being good shepherds to other people. The good shepherd challenges our own way of leaving people behind remember that Jesus also said “I have come to seek out and save the lost.” All of us know people who have wandered away from the Church, who have lost their sense of belonging, who feel they have no community to belong to.  How will they know they are welcome back if no one tells them? How will they be helped back if no one offers to make the journey with them shepherding them back to the sheepfold? The story of the good shepherd gives us the opportunity to be good shepherds to those around us and its up to us to take up the challenge. This Sunday also  marks the celebration of the World Day of Prayer for Vocations instituted by Pope Paul VI in 1964.The theme this year will be “Vocations: grace and mission ”. In his message for the day, Pope Francis explains that there is no vocation without mission. Today we remember those who were shepherds for us as we pray for more people to take up the call of priesthood or religious life continuing the mission of Jesus in our own time and place, as we continue our journey in the steps of the Good Shepherd who calls out to all of us follow me.  

Third Sunday of Easter

We gather this weekend after the solemn celebration of Easter and Divine Mercy Sundays, We also remember that the celebration of Easter continues until the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost Sunday and then Easter Time ends and the paschal candle is placed near the baptismal font. This Sunday’s gospel recounts Jesus appearance on the evening of Easter Sunday  to two disciples who were going from Jerusalem to Emmaus, their life with Jesus had come to an abrupt end as all seemed to be lost.  For in the past few days Jesus, their beloved Leader, friend and Teacher, had been arrested, tried, sentenced, tortured and killed. Now they are feeling that without his presence, his inspiration his support and encouragement, they simply cannot go on.   They are so disappointed and disillusioned about what had happened  that they have even decided to leave the Church, the community of his followers they are walking away from it all. Slowly but surely they are putting Jerusalem and the other disciples behind them.

They are heading for the village of Emmaus, to start a new and different way of life. And there Jesus was walking along the road with them as they were talking about what had happened in Jerusalem in the days before and how the authorities had put Jesus to death. Jesus explained all the passages of scripture that were about himself but it was only at the breaking of the bread that they recognized him later in the day. They then went back to tell the apostles that they had seen the Lord and told their story and how they recognized him at the breaking of the bread. The Emmaus story is the story of the church it is the story of you and me as the two disciples represent all of us who claim that we are Christians with all our doubts and disagreements our joys and sorrows. We come together in faith each Sunday in answer to a call, often a quiet murmur from the recesses of our hearts in which Jesus calls out to us saying come to me you who are weary and overburdened and I will give you rest.  We are searching just as the companions on the road to Emmaus were and they were weary from all that had happened to them often times we are also  weary from the things that happen to us. 

In the scriptures we find the explanation and understanding of events and relationships which have shaped the faith of so many people  over the long  years of the churches history. Our faith is lived out in the real world, the world of family, work, recreation, politics and economics as well as many other things. We don’t live in two separate worlds one spiritual and the other secular.  Those who would have us believe that we can separate our lives into two compartments are mistaken as faith and life go together.p  It is the application of scriptures to the events of our own lives and times that reveal that God is walking with us and maybe even working through us. But with all and in everything it is in the breaking of bread that we recognize Jesus the Son of God who is with us on our journey. It is in the sharing of the Bread of life that we are made one with each other and with Christ.  Our faith grows and our relationship with God and his people unites us in bond of love.  We are formed into one Body, the Body of Christ.   We are on this journey in fellowship with one another  being led by Jesus who calls out to us to follow him from the Cross of Good Friday as well as from the empty tomb of Easter Sunday. 

As we grow in faith, we are led to understand those past events as experienced yet again in our time and place.  The Risen Lord uses so much gentleness with us! He doesn’t oblige us to ‘believe’ but He offers us the means  that enable us to judge based on the measure of our own hearts. As St Augustine wrote in the opening of his Confessions ‘our hearts are restless until they rest in you’  As we recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread may we be joyful agents of conversion of one another.   As we show the caring face of the Church those who need us wherever they may be.